Although Dou Yi is the Taishou of Xiangyang, he is also quite familiar with the Huainan River and the surrounding area, and his analysis of the current situation is quite accurate.

Since Xiao Buyi became the owner of Xiangyang, their development in Jingxiang can be said to have few obstacles. Xiao Buyi killed Zhu Cang and subdued Shen Liusheng without too many twists and turns.

Taking Jiangxia is to take advantage of the trend, and the killing master is an ambush, and he thought it would be a tough battle against Lin Shihong, but Daoxin suddenly appeared to help Xiao Buyi take down the Yu Zhang, and it didn't take many twists and turns.

Jingxiang and Bashu are rare peaceful places in the Great Sui, and the Sui ministers had several reactions at this time, either to be loyal to the Sui family, or to wait for the opportunity to take refuge in the Ming Lord, Xiao Buyi recruited as a general of the Great Sui, so that the Sui ministers had few people to resist. After taking Yuzhang, it is expected to take Jiujiang by the way. Everything went well, but now, it's finally a hard bone!

When Xiao Buyi was developing in the Eastern Capital, Xu Shiji, Dou Yi and others also vigorously expanded in Jingxiang. In fact, their route is not complicated, except for Xiangyang, Yiyang, and Anlucheng, which stand on the north of the Yangtze River and close to the Han River, the rest of the counties are mainly on the south bank of the Yangtze River.

Their power expanded to Yiling in the west, near Bashu, and Hanshui in the east, with Xiangyang as the foundation. To the south, however, there is no hurry to expand, because it is mostly barbarian and sparsely populated, and it is not a strategic priority. The strategic focus of Xiao Buyi and others was temporarily placed on eastward expansion. They went down the Yangtze River, relying on the strategic points they had seized first, and took Jiangling, Baling, Jiangxia and other places, all the way eastward, and the momentum was like a bamboo. After conquering Yuzhang and taking Jiujiang, it can be said that the land of Jingxiang has been mastered, and the power has expanded and become strong for a while!

They avoided Wagang without fighting, and did not take the land of Jianghuai, but just wanted to continue to go down the Yangtze River to take the counties along the way. Xu Shiji, Du Ruhui and others focused on stabilizing the rear, but they sent Pei Xingyan to try to continue to advance eastward, but in the process of advancing eastward, they finally encountered resistance.

The resistance came from three sides, one side was of course Du Fuwei's Huainan soldiers advancing westward, the other team was from Lin Shihong's containment, and Zhang Shan'an, who had risen all the way.

Lin Shihong worked hard to defeat Liu Ziyi's army, but he didn't think of marrying someone else, so Xiao Buyi took Yuzhang Jiangxia, and naturally hated it in his heart. He retreated around Poyang Lake in Poyang County, relying on his familiarity with the terrain and relying on the Poyang Lake naval army to confront Xiao Buyi's army. It is impossible for Lin Shihong to defeat Xiao Buyi's army, but it is also difficult for Pei Xingyan and others to eliminate him. Zhang Shan'an was born in Xin'an County, and ordered tens of thousands of bandits to occupy Xin'an County, echoing Lin Shihong's distance, and there was no stable territory, he belonged to scattered bandits, and he would flee south when he saw that the situation was not good.

These two lines of soldiers and horses, like lice, are very laborious to catch, but if you don't pay attention, they will bite you a few times and make you uncomfortable.

However, these two roads have nothing to do with the overall situation after all, and the real hard bone is Du Fuwei's Huainan Army!

After Du Fuwei got Luo Shixin, he first broke Gaoyou, then went down to Liyang, looked at Jiangdu, and even fought the right imperial guard general Chen Ling did not dare to fight. The encirclement of Jiangdu is becoming a success, and the elite soldiers led by Yang Guang have been like the elite soldiers of the Eastern Capital, and they dare not come out of the Jiangdu area, and now they are all safe, not to mention the siege of the Eastern Capital. From then on, Du Fuwei could rest assured that he would seize the Jianghuai region and expand his power. When Xu Shiji commanded in Xiangyang and marched eastward, Du Fuwei of course refused to give up the current excellent opportunity and invaded the west recklessly.

Now Xiao Buyi, Li Mi, Xu Shiji, Du Fuwei has launched a fierce battle in the middle of the Central Plains, and the four corners of the chess game are Guanlong, Hebei, Bashu and the southeast.

Xiao Buyi and Li Mi were fighting on the left side of the Yellow River, but Xu Shiji and Du Fuwei were fighting along both sides of the Yangtze River.

Except for Xiao Buyi and Xu Shiji, the rest of the forces have their own conflicts.

Xiao Buyi is now holding half of the side, and then attacking the mid-abdomen according to Xiangyang, attacking and retreating is easy, although going to the eastern capital is unexpected, but it is not contrary to Xu Shiji's proposition of occupying the corner first, then taking the side, and relying on the corner to occupy the mid-abdomen.

Every family has a scripture that is difficult to read, Li Mi was cut off by Xiao Buyi on the road to the west, and when he was in a dilemma, Du Fuwei also encountered the same trouble.

Du Fuwei was originally from Shandong, but all the way south, it can be regarded as a thousand miles of battle. finally gained a firm foothold in Jianghuai, but was slapped head-on by Li Zitong. He made a comeback, and De Luo Shixin's helper has recently been sharp, but the drawbacks have also appeared. In the Liyang area, although he is guarding the main road of the Yangtze River, these places alone are obviously far from enough to compete for the capital of the world. But he has Li Mi's forces in the northwest, Li Zitong in the southeast, and the Sui army in Jiangdu in the northeast cannot be ignored.

Pei Xingyan marched very fast, and after leaving Jiujiang, he quickly entered Xuancheng County and forced Quetou Town.

Xuancheng County is vast and sparsely populated, and there is no big city, and the main place is Quetou Town. Quetou Town is named after the mountain, because there is a mountain towering near the river, just like the magpie's head, it is called Quetou Mountain. Therefore, the terrain is concise, so the predecessors built a town because of the mountain and defended the key rush, which is for the magpie head town. If this place is breached, Liyang and Danyang are already across the river.

It's just that Pei Xingyan sent troops from Jiujiang, with the vast river on one side, and the other side exposed to the attacks of Poyang and Xin'an counties, Lin Shihong and Zhang Shan'an will naturally wait for the opportunity to attack and frustrate Xiao Buyi's spirit.

Xu Shiji sat in Xiangyang, but he commanded thousands of miles and let Sun Chao guard Wucheng, but asked Dong Jingzhen to take Ah Rust to feint Lin Shihong, and let Lei Shimeng and Zhou Muru go to cut off Zhang Shan'an's back road.

When Lin Shihong saw someone attacking, in addition to holding on to Poyang City, most of the rest of the troops withdrew to Poyang Lake. Most of his soldiers are good at water warfare, not to mention the vast blue waters of Poyang Lake, and it is quite difficult to hide in the lake and catch it. Zhang Shan'an was even more cunning, and when he saw Lei Shimeng leading his troops to attack, he had already retreated into pieces.

After clearing the threat from the flanks, Pei Xingyan was able to go all out to take Quetou Town.

It's just that Du Fuwei is not an incompetent person after all, he has an auxiliary Gongqi under his command and a martial artist Luo Shixin. After the capture of Liyang, he sent people to Quetou Town early. When it was discovered that Xiao Buyi's army had the momentum to attack Quetou Town, he hurriedly transferred heavy troops to guard it.

Luo Shixin came with troops in the starry night, and went down to the mountain in Quetou Town, leaning on the Yangtze River, and confronting Pei Xingyan based on the terrain. After Pei Xingyan's army arrived, Quetou Town was heavily guarded, and it was extremely difficult to take it.

After Xu Shiji and Xiao Buyi discussed, they asked Pei Xingyan not to attack first, and to show weakness and retreat. After all, Luo Shixin joined the army at the age of fourteen and followed Zhang Xutuo for many years. If you can't attack it, it will hurt your morale and make it even more difficult to attack.

Pei Xingyan obeyed the orders of the two, and Luo Shixin fought three times in Quetou Town, Pei Xingyan feinted defeat in three battles, retreated ninety miles in one go, garrisoned in Lingyang Mountain, and laid an ambush in the Gaishan Gorge not far from the southwest, just waiting for Luo Shixin to attack.

The two armies faced each other, and it seemed that it was about to break out in wartime, but they were both cautious.

Dou Liang said that Pei Xingyan must not be defeated in this battle, if he is defeated out of Xuancheng County and retreats to Jiujiang, then Du Fuwei can go all the way west, relying on Poyang Lake and Xiao Buyi's army to confront, and then the resistance will be one, coupled with the help of Lin Shihong and Zhang Shan'an, it will take several times the strength to attack again.

Seeing that everyone was asking for battle, Xu Shiji laughed, "Don't worry, adults, in fact, General Pei and I have already discussed the situation, he is based on Lingyang Mountain to defend the charge, and Luo Shixin wants to attack our Jiujiang and Yuzhang must first conquer the main road of Lingyang Mountain." Otherwise, we will be flanked by us in front and back, and there will be no place to die. General Pei has experienced a hundred battles, Luo Shixin is difficult to defeat ten thousand people, these two people fight wits and courage, Luo Shixin is just a feint attack this time, they can't support for a while, and they will never dare to send troops easily. ”

"What if Luo Shixin's backup arrives?" Kong Shaoan asked nervously.

Xu Shiji laughed, "I bet that his backup will never arrive." ”

Everyone was surprised, but Du Ruhui laughed, "General Xu, don't sell Guanzi, you don't have to worry, in fact, General Xu already has other plans." ”

Xu Shiji smiled and said: "Du Shilang is right, in fact, I have discussed with Du Shilang for a long time, if you talk about martial arts, Luo Shixin should not be weaker than General Pei, if you talk about leading troops, Luo Shixin has been in the army since he was a child, and followed General Zhang, but General Pei has only become famous in recent years, although he is brave but rarely encounters positional battles. From these two points, Luo Shixin is stronger than General Pei. If the two lead the army to fight, to be honest, these two tigers are fighting, I think Luo Shixin has a sixty percent chance of winning. ”

Everyone nodded slowly, knowing that what Xu Shiji said made a lot of sense.

"But now, if we really fight, I bet that General Pei will win." Xu Shiji said in a deep voice.

"Why?" Everyone asked in surprise.

Xu Shiji said indifferently: "Because General Pei has the strong support of General Xiao and us, and the follow-up forces are endless, but Luo Shixin is fighting alone, how can he compete with us?" ”

"Doesn't he have a Duvowe?" Kong Shaoan asked.

Xu Shiji said in a deep voice: "Luo Shixin is strong in martial arts, and he is also good at the art of war, and he even didn't let Du Fuwei, he went to take refuge in Du Fuwei, how do you say that Du Fuwei will rest assured of him?" Luo Shixin's attack on Gaoyou and Ke Liyang is already quite prestigious in the Jianghuai army, and he betrayed Zhang Xutuo in front, even if Du Fuwei is magnanimous, I think most of them are also very jealous of him, so Du Shilang has already made a clever plan to let people spread rumors in Liyang, saying that Luo Shixin is stronger than Du Fuwei, if this word reaches Du Fuwei's ears, it will cause suspicion. General Pei showed weakness and retreated, but he was just waiting for the opportunity. The elongation of the battle line and the victory of the company have already caused Du Fuwei to be uneasy, and according to my information, Du Fuwei is ready to negotiate with us, and it will be the time for General Pei to attack. ”

Everyone was relieved, and they all breathed a sigh of relief, Dou Yi smiled and said: "I didn't expect General Xu to win a thousand miles long ago, but let me wait for a white worry." ”

Xu Shiji smiled: "But of course we can't slack off, if we don't succeed, we have to beware of their sneak attacks." I asked Dong Jingzhen and Lei Shimeng to form a corner to protect General Pei's back. If you really want to fight, you must also lead Luo Shixin out. ”

"If we want to make peace, do we really want to make peace with them?" Wei Zheng was silent, but suddenly a sentence popped up.

Xu Shiji smiled, "The negotiation is just a temporary measure, of course they will not really make peace, and the same is true for us!" ”

**

At this moment, Luo Shixin has sent troops from Quetou Town for thirty miles to the village. Looking at the past from afar, I only saw the mountains in the distance undulating, sinking in the west, dissipating the last trace of brilliance, and waiting until the last bit of bright color of the sunset disappeared, and the night fell silently, covering the earth.

Luo Shixin looked at Lingyang Mountain from afar, his brows furrowed. The wind blows, and the sky is full of loneliness. Suddenly leaned down and picked a withered wildflower.

Staring at the wildflowers in his hand, the corners of Luo Shixin's mouth showed a bitter smile, Pei Xingyan is a very smart opponent, he still can't find Pei Xingyan's flaws, just like Pei Xingyan is helpless against him.

The breeze blew in front of the tent, blowing off the wildflowers in Luo Shixin's hands. The wildflowers swayed to the ground, turned over a few times, and were full of loneliness, just like Luo Shixin standing in front of the tent.

Suddenly, I missed the situation when I drank a lot of wine, and suddenly I missed Qin Shubao and Cheng Yanjin, when they were there, they would not be alone. Suddenly remembered that the three tigers in front of General Zhang's tent were crisscrossing and killing countless enemies, how could he have been lonely at that time?

Have friends, don't be alone! But now, friends are no longer friends, and all three of them have a thorn in their hearts, and this thorn will follow them for the rest of their lives, day or night.

I don't know when, the eyes are already blurred, the nose is slightly sour, Luo Shixin raised his head and looked at the sky. Through the tears that seemed to be nothing, through the faint and faint night mist, a face full of sorrow hung on the edge of the sky.

Luo Shixin suddenly covered his chest with his hand, as if he had been hit in the chest by a giant hammer. Although the face on the horizon is sad, the eyes are bright and smiling. After the smile, it became grim, and then the voice came over and echoed in Luo Shixin's ears.

If you do something wrong, you will be punished......

Luo Shixin's tears fell, and he groaned in pain, he will never forget the General Zhang who is like a father and a friend! I remember that when he joined the army, he was arrogant, won many battles, developed an arrogant surname, and thought he was invincible in the world. Once begged for bandits, he did not listen to orders, pursued them relentlessly, and ended up in an ambush of bandits. The troops led by him suffered all the casualties, if it weren't for Zhang Xutuo leading his troops to kill and rescue him, he might not have survived to this day.

Zhang Xutuo sacrificed his life to save him, but when he went back, he said a word, if he did something wrong, he would be punished! If it was someone else, most of it was a crime of beheading, General Zhang cherished his talent, and finally let him go, severely condemned him with 80 military sticks, and personally tortured him. After beating Luo Shixin, he also punished himself with forty military sticks, and the three armies were moved.

After that beating, Luo Shixin didn't get up for more than half a month, and Zhang Xutuo only said one sentence after beating him, you and I are sorry for those people who trust us!

The most uncomfortable thing is never the external injury, but the punishment of conscience. There will be a time when the injury outside the body will be healed, but the bleeding in the heart is a lifelong thing.

Since then, Luo Shixin has never made a mistake again, he is conscientious, not afraid of punishment, but because of the eternal guilt of General Zhang! This time he knew that he was wrong again, but no one punished him again, looking at the sad smile in the sky, with a lifetime of contradictions, in the tears, Luo Shixin groaned in pain again.

General Zhang......

The night, boundless, painful, turbulent waves.

Luo Shixin has been standing there, stunned, he doesn't believe in heaven now, he doesn't believe in fate, all the roads are his own choice, he betrayed all the people, insisted on himself, he didn't know what the result was, and he didn't know if the master would order someone to kill him, but that was okay.

He goes his own way, he doesn't care anymore! Perhaps, he doesn't care just because he cares too much!

**

"General Luo." One of them called cautiously. When Ximen Junyi looked at Luo Shixin, his expression was complicated. He thinks that Luo Shixin is a strange person, but he can't deny that Luo Shixin is indeed a general. With this person reorganizing the ranks, the Jianghuai Army has taken on a new look, which is very different from the past. He was not only harsh on the soldiers, but also demanding of himself to the point of being harsh, which made the soldiers full of fear of him.

Luo Shixin came back to his senses, "What's the matter?" ”

Simon Junyi has been following Du Fuwei since the uprising. He worked hard for Du Fuwei, and Du Fuwei did the same for him, which made him die. At the beginning, he, Du Fuwei and Li Zitong ambushed Xiao Buyi, and he was still shocked when he thought about it, but after that escape from death, he trusted Du Fuwei even more. So this time, he didn't complain about Luo Shixin's deputy, and more importantly, he understood that he was far inferior to Luo Shixin.

"There is a military report, Pei Xingyan did not come out of the army, and there was no sign of any activity." Ximen Junyi asked helplessly, "I don't know what the general will do next?" ”

Luo Shixin frowned, there was a deep wrinkle between his eyebrows, which looked like he had been stabbed, "Pei Xingyan is the number one general under Xiao Buyi, but in my opinion, he is brave and strategic, and we can't take it lightly." If you don't have the certainty of defeating him, it's good to hold on to him for the time being. ”

Ximen Junyi nodded, and suddenly said, "General, General Kan Ling is here, please see General Luo." ”

Luo Shixin raised his eyebrows, and said with some surprise: "Kan Ling is here, take me to see him." As soon as Kan Ling comes, my plan can be realized. Although Luo Shixin defected to Du Fuwei not long ago, he was quite impressed by several people in Du Fuwei's army, Kan Ling and Wang Xiongdan were two of them.

Since Du Fuwei was attacked by Li Zitong, he learned from the pain and purged the Jianghuai army. Among the Jianghuai bandits, 5,000 people from the death squad were selected and named Shangzhao, these 5,000 people did not leave their side for a moment, and the treatment was extremely generous, and everyone was willing to obey. Whenever he encountered a strong enemy, Du Fuwei let the upper recruit attack, check the injury after the battle turn, if there was a wound on the back, it was considered to be greedy for life and fear of death, and it was caused by retreating, and he was executed at the moment. It is that the above recruits are tempered, each with one as ten, the captured military funds, on the recruitment of priority to enjoy, if the battle is killed, the deceased's concubine will be buried. This rule was made extremely cruelly, but it was the loyalty of the recruit.

Du Fuwei drew dozens of people from the recruitment as his sons, and wanted to select these dozens of people out of tens of thousands, the conditions were extremely harsh, and the ability of these dozens of people can be imagined, and Kan Ling and Wang Xiongdan are the two best of these dozens of people, and their abilities are even more extraordinary, so it is no wonder that Luo Shixin was quite excited to hear that Kan Ling came, he had a plan, but he lacked manpower to implement it, and he was of course happy to get strong reinforcements.

Seeing Luo Shixin's excitement, Ximen Junyi's face flashed strange, but he didn't say anything.

followed Luo Shixin to the camp tent, and a person was sitting with his hands down, behaving in order. The man was not very old, but when he looked at it, he felt as stable as Mount Tai, with a condensation that did not suit his age.

Luo Shixin said solemnly: "General Kan, you came just in time, I have a plan to defeat Pei Xingyan, and I am short of manpower, but General Manager Du asked you to come to help me?" ”

After Du Fuwei rebelled again, he called himself the chief governor, Feng Fu Gongqi was the long history, Kan Ling, Wang Xiongdan and Luo Shixin were all generals, so Luo Shixin called Du Fuwei the chief governor.

Kan Ling stood up before he could say anything, Luo Shixin had already pointed to the map on the table and said: "Pei Xingyan is stationed in Lingyang Mountain, this person is well versed in the method of using soldiers, if we attack strongly, we can only suffer heavy losses." But if we ignore Pei Xingyan and take Jiujiang directly, he can cut off our way back and give us a fatal blow, so we should focus on uprooting this person for now. ”

Kan Ling snorted, Luo Shixin looked at the map, as if he had returned to the past, at that time, their three tigers and General Zhang pointed out the country and scolded Fang Xuan.

At this time, he was quite focused, his face was less melancholy and sad, and he said: "Although Pei Xingyan has no flaws, we can pull out his flaws." This requires the deputy general of Ximen to guard Quetou Town to guard against the sneak attack of Pei Xingyan's army, but I led the army to take Lingyang Mountain and involve Pei Xingyan's main force. At this time, General Kan could lead a light cavalry up the river and carry out a sneak attack on Dong Jingzhen's troops, I think it should not be a problem to defeat Dong Jingzhen with the ability of General Kan Ling. At this time, General Kan can feint to attack Jiujiang, Pei Xingyan must return to defense, and when the time comes, we can attack before and after, and Pei Xingyan can be broken! ”

As he said this, a smile finally appeared on his lips, and he had this confident smile every time he made a suggestion.

But I didn't hear anyone respond, Luo Shixin's smile stiffened on his face, turned his head to look over, and saw two wooden faces, Luo Shixin slowly sat down, realizing that it was not Cheng Yanjin and Qin Shubao around him, and it was not General Zhang who he worked for, but General Du!

With indifference on his face restored, Luo Shixin said in a deep voice: "General Kan, I don't know what you think?" ”

Kan Ling finally spoke, "Actually, I'm here to give orders. ”

Luo Shixin's eyelids twitched, "What order?" ”

Kan Ling took out Du Fuwei's edict and said in a deep voice: "General Luo, Li Zitong raised troops in Hailing and crossed the Yangtze River to attack Biling. Biling was in danger, and his father-in-law asked General Luo to return to Liyang to discuss the plan to defeat Li Zitong. ”

Luo Shixin was silent for a long time, and said softly: "What about Quetou Town?" ”

Kan Ling's expression remained unchanged, "My father-in-law asked me to lead the army to guard the town." ”

Luo Shixin was speechless for a long time, "Why do you want to fight Li Zitong?" ”

"Why don't you hit Li Zitong?" Kan Ling asked rhetorically.

Luo Shixin sighed, "Li Zitong has been dormant in Hailing for a long time, and it is not a climate. Xiao Buyi is sharp and sharp, if he does not thwart his plan to advance eastward, we will inevitably be trapped in a corner and sit and wait for death. In my opinion, it is better to defeat Pei Xingyan first, and then go up the river. As for Li Zitong...... There is no need to deal with heavy troops. ”

"My father-in-law has an order, and I dare not disobey it." Kan Ling said: "If General Luo has any questions, he can ask his father-in-law." Again...... Kan Ling is here, I don't think Pei Xingyan can break through this place. ”

Ximen Junyi felt the strange atmosphere, and said with a smile: "General Luo is brave and invincible, and he uses soldiers like a god, of course, he must use it on the blade." General Kan is not bad, and he will not be bad if he sticks to it here. Thinking that Li Zitong has repeatedly violated our place, General Manager Du should want to finish his work and eradicate Li Zitong in one fell swoop. ”

The tent fell silent, Luo Shixin looked at the oil lamp, and the flames danced in his eyes, "When will Chief Du ask me to turn around?" ”

"Tomorrow morning." Kan Ling said without hesitation.

Luo Shixin nodded, stood up with difficulty and said, "Okay." ”

His voice landed, and the man had already walked out of the tent, silent. Ximen Junyi breathed a sigh of relief and said, "General Kan, I think General Luo will probably not be happy." ”

"It doesn't matter what I do if he's happy or not." Kan Ling said loudly: "Fortunately, Luo Shixin is obedient...... Otherwise......"

His voice was not small, it had already been heard outside the tent, he was calm, and he deliberately spoke loudly, obviously to Luo Shixin. Luo Shixin listened, but he was indifferent, slowly walked into the resting tent, and sat down cross-legged.

Stroking the iron spear he carried, Luo Shixin's expression was gloomy, he was not stupid at all, and he had sensed Du Fuwei's suspicion from Kan Leng's intention.

Only then did he realize that it was so difficult to follow his own path. No one believed him, no one believed that he had no selfish heart to help Duvoway.

With a bitter smile on the corner of his mouth, Luo Shixin didn't know how long he had been sitting, and suddenly shouted, "Who?" ”

He was still vigilant, and felt that a person was standing outside the felt tent, silently, this was his tent, who came here, and for what purpose?

As soon as the curtain was lifted, a pretty figure flashed in, dressed in the clothes of the Jianghuai Army, but it was a woman.

Luo Shixin put down the iron spear and frowned, "Dou Hongxian, what are you doing?" ”

(To be continued)